published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

This study was designed to investigate the effects of Relaxation, Positive Suggestion and Success Imagery (RSI) on locus of control and scores on teacher-made exams in an undergraduate college population. As well as to investigate interactions between locus of control and the exam scores. The sample, composed of 52 females and 2 males ranging in age from 18-47, confirmed previous findings that women in college do not show an interaction between locus of control and grades. Furthermore, RSI did not appear to significantly change locus of control or exam scores for the whole sample. However, the data suggests RSI to effectively change locus of control and grades with the younger aged students, inferring that an internal locus of control is easier to develop and grades are easier to influence in younger students with this procedure.

A dissertation submitted to the school of psychology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master of arts (industrial psychology), by coursework. / Despite the potentially devastating effect that stress may have on the performance and productivity of the workforce (Greenblo,1992), few South African companies have thoroughly looked at and studied the various aspects of stress. By doing this, they should then be able to develop and implement effective stress reduction programmes, The aim of the present study, therefore, was to identify some of the causes, outcomes, and moderators of stress, which could then be used as the basis for developing stress reduction programmes. Some stressor-outcome relationships (such as job satisfaction, self-esteem, propensity to leave the organisation, and health) were looked at, after which the possible moderating effect of certain variables (gender, personality, coping style, job pressure, and organisational support) were considered. The study adopted a cross-sectional design and the data was collected using both quantitative and qualitative means. The sample consisted of 290 managers all of whom belong to one of the country's largest financial institutions, and work in one of'the various branches in and around the Gauteng region. Correlations, t-tests, anovas and a content analysis were used to evaluate the stressor-outcome relationships. In addition to these statistical analyses, moderated multiple linear regressions were conducted in order to test for any moderating variables. Overall, most of the stressor-outcome relationships were found to be significant, but the number of actual moderating variables was shown to be rather minimal. Inaddition. the information which was derived from the content analysis served to add some insight into the sometimes contradictory findings, An in-depth look at the findings of the present study can be found in the discussion section, where possible reasons and explanation for the result- are presented. Theoretical and practical implications of the study, together With the limitations, are offered. Following this, some important guidelines and suggestions for future research are considered. / AC2017

The objective of this study was to compare the acute heart rate variability responses to relaxation alone versus relaxation preceded by Hatha yoga. Twenty women and men (aged 18-50 years) participated in the study. Participants completed a yoga plus relaxation (YR) session and a relaxation only (R) session. The YR condition showed significant changes from baseline in HR (bpm, p < 0.001), RR (ms, p < 0.001), pNN50 (%, p = 0.009), LF (% p = 0.008) and HF (% p = 0.035). The R condition showed significant changes from baseline in HR (bpm, p < 0.001), RR (ms, p < 0.001), HF (ms2, p = 0.004), LF (%, p = 0.005), HF (%, p = 0.008) and LF/HF (%, p = 0.008). There were no significant differences between conditions for the changes from baseline for any of the variables. The results demonstrate that relaxation produces favorable changes in indices of heart rate variability whether alone or preceded by about of Hatha yoga. / by Nina Markil. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Shea Ling Yu, Kitty. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-70). / Abstracts in English and Chinese; questionnaire in Chinese.

Stress has lasting and sometimes fatal effects on the law enforcement community, which can compromise the well-being of police officers. To date, there is little research on factors that influence the level of stress in police officers. The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study was to investigate the relationship of gender, used coping mechanisms, and levels of organizational and operational stress among police officers who have and have not received stress management training. Bandura's social learning theory and Lazarus and Folkman's theory of cognitive appraisal provided the theoretical foundation. Cross-sectional survey data from a convenience sample of 134 male and female police officers were collected using the Brief Cope, the Operational and Organizational Police Stress Questionnaire, and a demographic survey. An independent samples t test and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to test the hypotheses. According to study findings, officers who received stress management training demonstrated a higher use of adaptive coping mechanisms compared to those who did not receive training. In addition, gender and use of maladaptive coping predicted level of stress among officers. Evidently, receiving stress management training was useful for these participating police officers, and these findings suggest that the training may have positive demonstrable effects for other police officers. This study promotes positive social change by increasing knowledge and awareness of the value that stress management has in reducing level of stress and use of maladaptive coping in police officers, thus empowering the psychological needs of officers while endorsing public safety at the individual and societal level.

This dissertation builds upon stress and burnout research on school leaders by exploring the beliefs and practices regarding well-being and self-renewal of principals identified as successful. This study utilized a 3-fold framework that consisted of mind, body, and spirit, falling under the all-encompassing umbrella of thriving, asserting the three domains work together to support the optimal well-being of the leader. The research questions were as follows: (1) In what ways are principals' well-being and self-renewal supported by principals' personal beliefs and practices, district policies and practices, and educational programs and organizations? (2) To what extent does attentiveness to well-being and practices of self-renewal impact professional success and work satisfaction, and well-being and flourishing? This study included a diverse group of six principals, all identified as successful and all with three or more years of experience as administrators. The case study consisted of mostly interviews with some survey inquiry. The primary method of analysis was holistic descriptive and in vivo coding with loose applications of formal protocols provided by Saldaña (2009). In my final analysis the participant responses were organized into categories and layered into my pre-existing framework of mind, body, and spirit. The findings from the study revealed the current successes and challenges in the personal and professional renewal of principals. The findings yielded implications for research and practice specific to principals, school districts, and principal preparation programs.

Research has shown that psychotherapy patients experience increased physiological responsivity to stress which might negatively impact their experience in psychotherapy and their overall progress and outcome. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of a heart rate variability biofeedback intervention on the physiological stress responsiveness and the psychotherapy outcomes of participants in psychotherapy. Forty college students attending psychotherapy at their university counseling center were divided into an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group participated in a 6-week biofeedback intervention and we assessed their physiological stress reactivity before and after implementation of the intervention, compared to a matched control group. The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) was administered pre- and post-intervention to induce a stress reaction. It was hypothesized that psychotherapy patients involved in the biofeedback intervention would show decreased physiological stress reactivity to and faster physiological recovery from a laboratory induced stressor post-intervention compared to psychotherapy patients in the matched control group. It was also hypothesized that these participants would demonstrate larger distress reduction after implementation of the intervention. Results of the study found no significant main effect of the TSST on systolic blood pressure, heart rate, and HRV. There however was a main effect on diastolic blood pressure. The only variable that significantly differed between groups was the LF/HF ration. The results also revealed no significant change from pre-intervention baseline to post-intervention heart rate, blood pressure, and HRV, suggesting that the HRV biofeedback intervention was not effective in changing the stress response over time. Regarding levels of distress, results also revealed no statistical between group differences post-intervention, although the biofeedback group appeared to report significantly lower levels of distress post-intervention.